Last chapter, everyone. Yup. It's over. This story was definitely an emotional rollercoaster. I did everything I possibly could to try to convey the right kind mood and emotion, as well as incorporate that into Arthur's character. I listened to sad songs, instrumentals, took long walks, imagined how my reaction would be should my boyfriend die (horrible idea, I never want to do that again), watched movies and studied how people acted when their loved one died... It was definitely trying. But now, this is the last chapter, and I really hope you enjoy it. I will have another story posted in the upcoming months, so watch out for that, and thank you all for reading!

Songs that inspired this chapter: "The Funeral" by Band of Horses; "Portrait II" by Keith Kenniff; "Reconciliation" from The Walking Dead OST.

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Merlin.

It was a considerably short walk from the gate of the cemetery to Merlin's grave, but it certainly didn't feel like it as Arthur walked slowly towards it, eyes focused on the earth beneath his feet.

He drew in a deep inhale through his nostrils as he trudged to a stop in front of the headstone, right hand deep in his pocket, sighing softly as he eyed the bouquet in his left hand.

"I'm absolute rubbish when it comes to picking flowers, you know," Arthur began, shifting his gaze down towards the slab of stone before him. "Morgana helped me out... Looking back on it, I could have picked these out, but you know her."

Carefully, he crouched down, laying the bouquet of forget-me-nots gingerly on the flat ground in front of the stone, pressing his palm gently on the flowers as he sniffed wetly, not at all amazed that he could still cry after three months. He removed his hand from the flowers and reached toward the headstone, tracing the indentations of the words etched there.

MERLIN EMRYS

November 20, 1994 - July 15, 2014

Since you'll never be forgotten,
I pledge to you today
A hollowed place within my heart
is where you'll always stay.

Arthur swallowed the thickness in his throat. "I'm sorry I haven't come by to visit you. I just... I don't really have a good reason." He ran a hand through his hair. "I don't think I need to tell you what's going on in everyone's lives. They visit you all the time..."

Guilt crept into his voice, and he cleared his throat and shoved it back down. "Father and I haven't spoken yet, and I know you're probably up there, shouting at me, calling me an arrogant, stubborn prat. I know you are, and you'd be right to say that I am. I just... I can't bring myself to talk to him yet. I will eventually, just..."

He sighed. He needed to change the subject. "It was horrible at first, going back to school without you. I never knew how much I needed your presence until I walked into the courtyard and everyone was just staring. I almost reached out to hold your hand, but then I remembered, and it... It just sucked. Walking to lectures without you, having lunch without you, having a flat without you... God."

He sniffed, leaning down to pinch the bridge of his nose, feeling the all too familiar hotness in his eyes. "I hate this, Merlin. I really h-hate not having you here." He was crying now, and made no further move to remove evidence of his tears. The grief was still just as suffocating as it was that first day, even though the air around Arthur had long since been empty of Merlin's presence. "I-" His voice cracked horribly, and he swallowed roughly in an effort to speak once more. "I miss you... so much."

Visiting his grave was too much, regardless of the time that had passed. Overwhelming sensations and thoughts crossed his mind randomly and without pause, of his still fresh grief, of the agony of going through days without Merlin, of the fact that he was practically kneeling on top of his body, buried under six feet of earth. The last thought spooked him, and he was startled from his tears, staring at the dirt beneath him with an odd fascination. His fingers were intertwined in the loose earth. He dug at it gently, loosening it some more and almost stroking cool dirt at his fingers. He closed his eyes, and for a moment, for one second, he could pretend it was Merlin's cool hand, and that he was linking their fingers together.

"I miss you," Arthur whispered, his eyes still shut.

Silence met his words, and he once again unveiled his cerulean orbs, a tear escaping his eye when he saw the slab of stone before him. He cleared his throat and sniffed, running his arm across his face. His cheeks felt cold and dry, and his eyes felt full. He stood slowly, never taking his eyes away from Merlin's headstone.

"I promise that I'll come visit more often," Arthur said, placing his hand back in his pocket. "But before I leave..." He paused in his decision, and then removed his hand, taking out a small box. He turned it in his hand, and then crouched back down, holding it lightly between his fingers.

"I should have answered you that time," Arthur muttered, opening the box.

Inside lay a simple gold band, gleaming in the sunlight, finally revealed to the world, no longer kept hidden in the depths of the box. Arthur saw the inscription on the inside. Two Sides of the Same Coin.

"You know... I saw you, too," he said, digging at the previously loosened dirt until a small hole remained, and then gently placing the closed box inside. A deep breath, and he buried that too.

"You'll always be in my heart, Merlin," he said, looking back up at Merlin's name on the headstone. He made to stand up, leaning forward to place a chaste kiss on the edge of the cold stone. "I love you."

He wrapped his jacket more tightly around him as the autumn breeze picked up, though he shivered from little more than the cold. He cast one last, longing look at the headstone before him, and then Arthur turned and left the cemetery.

xXx

Though his friends had all offered, Arthur refused to take another roommate in his flat. He even turned away Gwaine. The space had been for himself and Merlin, and having another person occupy that space, taking Merlin's bed, or even Arthur's bed that they shared many times before, seemed wrong, seemed too much like an insult to Merlin's memory, and to all the memories that they made in that flat.

So he was alone the week following his visit to Merlin's grave, jotting down an outline for a biology thesis due the following week, when a knock on his door echoed through the flat.

Arthur glanced up, frowning. He was not expecting company, though his sister had a tendency to randomly drop by and check on him, so he would not be surprised if it were her. He stood, calling out a quick "I'm coming!" when the knock repeated. He reached the door and twisted the knob, pulling it open.

There, looking completely out of place and clad in a polo shit and dress pant, stood Uther Pendragon.

"Father," Arthur greeted, caught between being bewildered at his father's visit and remembering that he was still upset with him in the first place.

"Son," Uther replied.

"Am I?" Arthur couldn't help but bite out. He couldn't decide whether he felt guilt or a sliver of triumph over the uncomfortable flinch that Uther gave at that jibe.

"Please, Arthur," Uther said. Arthur was taken aback at the genuine plea in Uther's voice, as well as the expression on his face resembling a father desperate for his son's listening ear, looking nothing like the father and authoritative figure Arthur had grown up with. "I think that a talk between the two of us is long overdue. May I come in?"

Arthur hesitated. Uther sighed.

"I wish to apologize, Arthur," Uther said. "And... To ask for your forgiveness. And to say that... I am so sorry."

Arthur blanched and at first could do nothing more than stare, watching his father break and crumble before his eyes. This was a moment that he had been waiting for, that he had been building up to act on, and now that it was here... He was suddenly ashamed at his avoidance of his father, at his insistence to never listen to what he had to say. He refused to let himself closure, and refused his father that same privilege.

Uther was here now, and at last, Arthur would have a chance to able to move past at least something in his life.

"Arthur?" Uther spoke, almost looking frightened that his son was going to shut the door on him.

Eyes welling up, a lump lodged in his throat, Arthur nodded shakily and stepped back, letting his father in.

That's all, folks. The talk between Arthur and Uther can be left up to the reader's interpretation, and I am sorry for those that wanted to read about their talk. I just felt like the reader themselves could choose their own ending; even though it is implied that Arthur forgave Uther, perhaps he did, perhaps he didn't.

For me, this story was never really supposed to have a true happy ending. Death in real life does not have a true happy ending. Yes, people move on and find happiness again, and they can look back on the memories of that person that died and smile and laugh, but the pain and loss will still be there until we can join them in the afterlife. I wanted to at least leave this story with a bit of hope of Arthur attempting to move on, though, so here it is.

I hope you all enjoyed this story. Thank you all!